Bank of America, Capital One, JP Morgan/Chase and Wells Fargo continue to provide consumer choice, control and convenience without penalty for paper communications.

Banks and other financial institutions is the first commercial sector analyzed by Keep Me Posted North America (KMP) as part of its ongoing mission to ensure customers are given a clear choice in how they receive information — on paper or digital — and that they are not charged extra for paper statements.

To see how well U.S. financial institutions are serving consumers when it comes to their communication preferences, Keep Me Posted reviewed the billing practices of the top 20 Fortune 500 companies in this sector (by revenue) to see how they align with KMP’s Best Practices for essential communications:

No charges or other penalties for choosing paper bills

Prior consumer consent required before ceasing to send paper documents

No change in paper bill frequency without prior agreement

No difficulty to revert back to paper correspondence

Continued access to online options

Only 4 of America’s top 20 financial institutions put their customers’ preferences first, do so without fees and make their practices easily accessible. The rest of the companies, however, chose to limit options, restrict consumer control, put financial penalties on paper choice or make it difficult to impossible to know what their practices are prior to opening an account with them.

For their approach to consumer choice, KMP awards these companies with its Best Practices mark:

Bank of America
Capital One
JP Morgan/Chase
Wells Fargo

In treating bills and statements as a usual and expected part of doing business, these companies transparently provide a range of paper and digital options, honor preferences, seek consent for changes and pose no barriers for customers who wish to switch between digital and paper notices. And most importantly, they charge no additional fees for either form of delivery.

KMP also recognizes Citibank/Citigroup with its Good Practices mark for not charging penalties or fees for paper bills and statements, and for not making it unduly burdensome for customers to revert to paper correspondence. KMP encourages Citibank/Citigroup to attain our Best Practices mark by always obtaining its customers’ consent prior to changing them from paper to digital documents.

The remaining top U.S. financial institutions – ranked by annual revenue — all fall short of best practices that make consumer communications preferences a priority. Most are charging between $2 and $4 for a paper statement that costs them less than 70 cents.[i] Many treat prior consent like an afterthought. And nearly three quarters of America’s biggest banks and financial institutions make obtaining legally required information such as fees, options, consent and controls on critical communications preferences inaccessible and often impossible to find without direct personal interactions with representatives.

As more and more companies have prioritized digital-first approaches to conducting business, consumers trapped in the digital divide are increasingly disenfranchised. Especially in these times of turmoil and uncertainty, communications options and preferences are more critical than ever. Any changes to established patterns of delivering notice of account should be at the request of the consumer. Proactive consent is paramount and should be honored as a decision to opt-in. Unexpectedly disrupting paper communications and implementing difficult hurdles to resume them is unacceptable and should never be considered.

KMP urges the rest of America’s top banks and financial institutions to adopt the KMP Best Practices for essential communications. They include Morgan Stanley, TD Bank North America, SunLife Financial, Northwestern Mutual, U.S. Bank, PNC Bank, Synchrony Bank, Fidelity Bank, BB&T Corp, Ameriprise Financial, Discover Financial, Ally Financial and SunTrust Bank.

Customers should have free access to the account information they need in paper or electronic form, according to their own choice. In addition to keeping pace with their industry peers who are demonstrating true leadership when it comes to customer communication preferences, financial institutions may find that giving customers the flexibility to choose paper delivery for essential account information free of charge is a sound investment in both customer retention and measurable customer service cost savings.[ii]

About Keep Me Posted North America

Keep Me Posted is a coalition of consumer groups, charities and businesses that advocates for the right of every consumer in North America to choose, free of charge, how they receive important information – on paper or electronically – from their service providers.

For more information on how to support KMP or to become a member, visit our website at keepmepostedna.org or follow us on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.